Tag: birding
-
Feathers Flying – Rhapsody in a Great Blue Heron
A most beautiful Great Blue Heron has been frequenting the Salt Marsh lately, with many local social media posts to prove it. A winter visitor, this particular heron has taken to perching near the shore or on one of the Inwood Hill Park docks. It can easily be seen up close. In a cold gray…
-
How the Birds of Inwood Stay Warm in the Cold Northern Manhattan Winter
During the recent cold and snowy nights, I was awakened by the sounds of snapping tree limbs falling in the forest down the street. Some of the trees are old and brittle there. I imagined the birds waking up, too, jolted from their feathery dreams to find a new limb in the cold night air. …
-
A Red-breasted Merganser at the Salt Marsh
On the morning of Sunday, January 14, 2024, a male Red-breasted Merganser was floating along the banks of the Salt Marsh and trying to get some rest. Nearby was a group of Mallards that occasionally quacked. The Merganser is usually seen with its partner, often in the nearby Muscota Marsh, but this morning it was…
-
Birds Between the Storms: A Wellness Check on the January Regulars
Successive waves of storm systems have been passing through the area, and I have been checking in on the birds to see how they fared. First, a winter storm brought snow to the city, but little of it stuck to the ground. Then a large storm brought heavy rain, this time swamping the shoreline of…
-
Birds of the New Year in Inwood and Highlights of 2023 in Local Birding
On walks into Inwood Hill Park on the final days of 2023 and in these first days and 2024 I have spotted many woodpeckers, at least a couple of Red-tailed Hawks, several Carolina Wrens, a Winter Wren, a host of Blue Jays, Northern Cardinals, a few American Robins, some kinglets, many Mourning Doves, and the…
-
Woodpeckers Own This Place
With the leaf fall of autumn nearly complete, a curtain has been pulled back to reveal the main characters of the now bare old-growth forest. American Robins, Blue Jays, and Northern Cardinals, plenty of sparrows, a couple of hawks, and many others are still here in Inwood Hill Park, but if my walk yesterday morning…
Birds of Inwood 